Strengthen Love With Forgiveness

CELEBRATIONS - NEWS ABOUT OUR NEIGHBORS

Everyone needs to hear the words "I love you."It is ointment to the soul of the aged, and unconditional acceptance to the child. And frankly, it uplifts and animates everyone in between.

The Bible teaches us a great deal about love. We are commanded to love our neighbors, and we are even exhorted to love our enemies. Still we must realize that without demonstrable evidence of our affection, "I love you" can be an empty phrase.

I have learned from the example of Jesus that love is less something to be articulated, and more something to be demonstrated. Or, as the contemporary paradigm dictates, "Actions speak louder than words."

It would seem that we are so busy and distracted that we can scarcely find time to demonstrate our love for our own family, much less a neighbor, much less still an enemy.

Put others' interests above yours

But I want to challenge the idea that it takes extra time.

Demonstrating love is not an agenda item for the pocket calendar. You cannot, and indeed should not, schedule it. Demonstrating love is not an additive, it is an alternative. It is an altogether different pattern of living which puts the feelings and interests of others above your own.

A few years ago while I was ministering to a parish in New England, I was accosted on the highway by what I assumed to be a very miserable man. While I was in the left lane passing a slower vehicle in the center lane, he was in the left lane closing in rapidly on my bumper. As hastily as possible, I returned to the center lane, just in time to see him passing by with an upraised middle finger, venom spewing from his mouth.

Try some unexpected kindness

As we approached a toll booth, I stomped on the the accelerator and passed him so that I arrived at the toll gate first! Naturally, he pulled up directly behind me, waving his arms in angry. It was clear he was eager to make it through the toll booth to retaliate.

But an interesting thing happened. I was watching my rear-view mirror as he exited the toll booth, much slower than I expected. He stayed far behind me, and did not speed. Perhaps he was embarrassed for his controlled rage, for I had not passed him in competition, but out of compassion.

When he arrived at the toll booth, he learned that I had paid his toll, a simple example of loving someone who had set himself up as my enemy.

We all know people who need to be loved, and in cases such as this one, an act of love implied that forgiveness had taken place.

Perhaps the best way to communicate "I love you" is with the words: "I forgive you."

Rev. Eric A. Cranston is pastor of First Baptist Church of Davie/Cooper City